Q&A: Mass AV’s John Lally
Interviewed by Sven Anderson

Page Two

PSW: What about inventory management in your rental department: What kind of system do you use for managing everything across multiple warehouses?

[John Lally] Our current system is RCMS. This is an inventory based accounting package that we use for order entry, billing, and inventory control. The key for multiple warehouse system still is communication among the regional managers, warehouse managers, and our inventory control person.

PSW: Could you describe how computers worked their way into your system and services over the years, from Mass AV’s inception in 1975?

[John Lally] As I said earlier, computer presentations are a significant part of our business. The slide projector of the new millennium is the LC (DLP, LCD) projectors. Fifteen years ago, interfacing computer images - signal output- to a large display monitors or three-gun CRT projector was a technical challenge. Few companies outside of the Wang, Digital, Apollo, and Prime requested external display devices. I used these client names to underline the change in technology to PC based systems which, like VHS tape, changed the way we communicate and present information. It became smaller. personal, portable, and readily available. Today I estimate that the majority of our events focus on computer presentations.

The transition from film to digital presentation required simultaneous development of presentation software. Most presentations today are MS PowerPoint based. The ability to quickly update and customize your presentation "on the fly" is an incredible development in the presentation field.

The transition from three CRT projection systems that required a technician to "tweak" the image to the individual screen size and locations, to LCD Panels that required a high output overhead projector and control of ambient light, to the highly portable and user friendly LC Projectors high lumen output and XGA resolution has been extremely quick because of user demand for the technology and the effective presentation of information.

PSW: At what point did Mass AV launch www.buyavonline.com? Have you been content with its development and returns?

[John Lally] Mass AV launched our e-commerce site three years ago. Michael Basteri worked to create a way of assisting our clients easily but products. We continue to focus on rental and staging while BuyAV online provides a solution for purchase. We worked with several key manufacturers to build the initial site and assisted them with developing a presence "on the web". We look to expand our web presence since it is a marketing tool as well as a source of revenue. We use www.massav.com to market our services to clients worldwide. We provide a monthly e-mail component that provide links to our site as well as related sites for our clients. We continue to look at the web for marketing and new presentation solutions.

PSW: How did Mass AV develop a focus on servicing corporate events?

[John Lally] Our clients are our best source of new ideas. We are a corporate presentation provider through the large corporate client base we reached through our hotel contracts. We saw the need for a strong regional AV support company and we continue to work towards providing the best single source solution for our clients.

PSW: In your opinion, what is the best way for an AV provider to retain its appeal to so many diverse clients?

[John Lally] Personal attention. We assign Account Executives and Project Managers to our key clients. We work to provide value added service to them through consultative type relationship. We are successful when our clients see us as a member of the team rather than a company selling a service.

PSW: What kind of relationship has Mass AV encountered with other AV companies around the New England area? Has there been room for collaboration or is it more of a dog-eat-dog/acquire-or-be-acquired kind of experience?

[John Lally] We have professional relationship with several companies that focus on a specific area of expertise. We use their expertise in addition to our personnel and equipment when necessary. This is more of a partnership relationship rather than adversarial. We also compete with larger national companies for hotel contracts.